The Warpriest challenge mode is the first of three King’s Fall Raid challenges for Destiny players to take on. PlayStation and Xbox owners looking for help to beat the challenge on normal and hard mode should check out the following guide to help them get the big rewards guaranteed from completing it.

The Warpriest Challenge Conditions

The challenge Destiny fireteams must meet with the Warpriest is players can only hold the Aura of the Initiate once.

It is okay for an Aura holder to die, which automatically passes the Aura to a random fireteam member. However, that randomness creates a problem because it could choose someone that already held the Aura, which ends the challenge right there and forces a wipe.

Another issue with the Aura holder dying and passing it to another is the fireteam may find themselves in a situation where the new Aura holder may have been next in the rotation to receive it. This will cause some shuffling of placement, so prepare to be flexible.

The Rewards

Rewards for the Warpriest challenge on Normal include a 310 Light level Artifact and 310 Light level Special or Heavy weapon and one of the missing Calcified Fragments along with the normal chance at an Exotic.

The Hard mode rewards are a 320 Light level Artifact and 320 Light level Special or Heavy weapon plus the “Worm God’s Servant” emblem and the Calcified Fragment. The Normal mode rewards in Hard mode are given in addition to the 320 level rewards.

Who doesn’t love Titans, right? Your fireteam will want at least one of the Defender variety with two being optimal for maximum damage output and survivability. If only one Defender Titan is available, they should run Weapons of Light. If two are available, one should have Weapons of Light while the other runs Blessing of Light.

One or two Nightstalker Hunters with the “Black Hole” perk for Shadowshot is also highly recommended. Hitting the Warpriest with this and a Weapons of Light bonus will really put a hurting to the Destiny boss.

Warlocks can be more flexible, but will likely want to opt for the Sunsinger due to the high survivability thanks to the melee ability’s overshield and the ability to resurrect themselves. This is most useful in the middle and top left areas of the arena.

Weapons

Fireteam members will want to equip high-impact Sniper Rifles for their Special Weapon. Heavy Weapon is a choice between Sleeper Simulant, if available, and a Machine Gun. At no point should a Rocket Launcher be used in this fight as it is too easy to kill yourself by hitting a teammate or a minion that flashes in front of you.

The Primary Weapon can be your favorite high Light level weapon. The shortest time to kill minions, the better.

The fireteam should operate in teams of two when properly organized between the three plates. Two for the plate on the right side of the arena, two for the middle plate, and two for the left plate up on the ledge.

One of the middle players will be designated to watch the glyphs and call out the order of the plates. It’s important to remember that the call-out player may need to swap in later phases if their middle plate partner gets the Aura.

It’s helpful to have the Titan(s) placed on the right plate to allow quick placement of their bubble. However, lower Light level players will also find they are more likely to survive in that area.

Execution

The Warpriest boss battle essentially follows a pattern of kill minions, kill Hallowed Knights, step on the plates to get the Aura, damage the Warpriest, and then repeat. There is also a pattern to follow on where to stand when damaging the Warpriest. Everyone should meet at the right plate for the first damage phase and behind the low wall that sits in front of the middle plate for all subsequent damage phases.

The minion phase for the first two rounds is just as it sounds. Minions will flood out of entrances around the arena. Simply stay out of the line of fire of the Warpriest’s cannon and kill the mix of Hive Thrall, Acolytes, Knights, and Wizards as quickly as possible.

Eventually, the Hallowed Knights (yellow bar) will spawn out of the right, left, and middle doors. Killing all three of these will start the plate to sequence.

At this point, the player in charge of calling out the glyphs should move to the front of the arena and call out the order. The communication here is critical as fireteam members need to listen to when the player calling out the order calls the plate and must in turn say when they have stepped on the plate.

The third player to step on a plate will receive the Aura of the initiate and the entire fireteam should meet up in the appropriate location (remember – right, middle, middle). The fireteam should put damage on the Warpriest immediately with their Special or Heavy weapon immediately to stagger him to prevent him from shooting. The Titans should place their bubble behind where the Aura holder is set up, a Nighstalker should use Shadowshot, and everyone but the Aura holder should tear into the Warpriest’s head.

The Aura Holder has the most difficult task during the phase as a counter will appear in the bottom left. The holder will have until the counter reaches zero to kill one of the Acolytes that spawns and resets it. There are four resets (or stacks) available and the damage phase for Warpriest is active until the final stack ends.

A skilled Aura holder will let the counter get to almost zero before killing an Acolyte to maximize the fireteam’s time to damage the boss.

This pattern should be repeated until the Warpriest is brought down. Taken will spawn after the second phase and the Taken Knights should be high-priority targets thanks to their ability to launch fire onto the ground.

A well-coordinated and high-level team should take out the Warpriest in just two phases. This will make ensuring a player holds the Aura no more than once easier. Going three or more phases will require the fireteam to remember everyone who has held the Aura and to swap out holders at each station.

Hard Mode Strategy

The Warpriest hard mode strategy is essentially the same as the normal mode. Matters are complicated thanks to the boss gaining Taken abilities at the end of each damage phase based on the totem used for cover. The right totem gives him the Taken Captain blinding ball shot. The middle totem grants the Taken Hobgoblin tracking shot. This is why the right, middle, middle strategy for placement works best. It is also why a Defender Titan with Blessing of Light is preferred.